This invention is directed to a drive through bin door and more particularly to a drive through bin door that is angled/curved.
Drive through bin doors are known in the art. Known drive through doors have a straight top and a straight bottom I-beam. During erection, it is often difficult to assemble a straight door bin with a circular bin and often results in a miss-fit or twist of the sidewall sheets which reduces the structural strength of the bin. Known drive through doors also lead to the complexity of the foundation in order to accommodate the straight bottom I-beam and are also difficult to fit into smaller diameter bins.
The assembly of current drive through bin doors require critical joints to be field welded. Thus, the structural integrity of the door is dependent upon the quality of the weld. Also, because current doors are not designed heavy enough to handle hoop tension loads, a pair of door panels are bolted to a vertical member. To open the door requires the removal of hundreds of bolts which is labor intensive, inconvenient, and time consuming. Therefore, a need exists in the art for a drive through bin door that addresses these deficiencies.
An objective of the present invention is to provide a drive through bin door that closely follows the curvature of a grain bin.
Another objective is to provide a drive through bin door that is easy to assemble in the field.
A still further objective is to provide a drive through bin door that is easy to open and close.
Yet another objective is to provide a drive through bin door frame designed to take all hoop tension loads.
A still further objective is to provide a drive through bin door that minimizes or eliminates field welding.
These and other objectives will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art based upon the following written description, drawings, and claims.